Linda Loman
As time grows, a spouse becomes a soul mate, best friend, and lover all in one. No one will ever show their dedication and love for you like your significant other and that’s what Arthur Miller addresses in the play Death of a Salesman. Linda Loman is the wife of Willy Loman, a man that treats her wrong but she still stands by his side. Linda is a vital character because she never has a low personality, she chooses her husband over her children she’s strong when her husband passes away and she the voice of the playwright.
Linda Loman has been noticing her husband has been down in the dumps but still attempts to keep him motivated. Usually when someone treats a person bad they simply remove themselves from the situation but Linda didn’t. Linda has “developed an iron repression of her exceptions to Willy’s behavior – she more than loves him, she admires him, as though his mercurial nature, his temper, his massive dreams and little cruelties, served her only as sharp reminders of the turbulent longings within him”(1070). Throughout the play Willy constantly disrespects and ignores Linda but she has become immune to it:
LINDA. Willy, dear, I got a new kind of American-type cheese today. It’s whipped.
WILLY. Why did you get American when I like Swiss?
LINDA. I just thought you’d like a change –
WILLY. I don’t want a change! I want Swiss cheese. Why am I always being contradicted?
LINDA (with a covering laugh). I thought it would be a surprise. (1071)
In the dialogue she keeps a positive attitude and brushes it off even he gets angry and becomes rude. Women are emotional creatures. Their feelings get hurt if they take something in the wrong context and Linda shows her strength by “[using] a covering laugh [and having] infin...
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...ngs are hurt because of her son’s actions. The playwright used Linda to show her anger as a mother and a wife. To give life and hope to the play, her major dialogues are to comfort her husband, support and put her children in their place and that’s important because the mood when it came to Willy, Biff and Happy was always negative.
To show her dedication and how much she cared about her husband, Linda showed strength in every situation she dealt with. She is a vital character because she never has a low personality regardless of everything she deals with, she chooses her husband over her children, she’s strong for everyone when her husband passes away and shes the main voice for the play.
Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. Rpt. In The Bedford Introduction to Drama.
6th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston. Bedford/St.Martin’s 2009. 1069-1106.
Similarly though, Linda was also cheated on, however she remained faithful to Willy, even in hardship. That is why she is so significant to Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. She is the adhesive that keeps the crumbling-family together. Throughout the play, Willy struggles to feel appreciated in his failing career as a salesman and is disappointed that his children, Biff and Happy, did not do something productive with their lives all while being the victim of dementia. Linda sacrifices her own dignity to deal with Willy’s deteriorating mental health and his constant disrespect towards her, like him telling her to shut up. Still, with all that she has to deal with she still loves him, protects him, and does all that she can in order to make him happy. That is more than many partner’s would be able to deal with, especially Daisy. If Daisy were in that situation she’d most likely find somebody else to carry on her life with and to care for
Willy Loman is not the only victim of his tragic flaw. The rest of the Loman family is also affected by Willy's problem. Willy's wife, Linda, is the only one who supports and understands Willy's tragic flaw completely. Linda supports every far-fetched claim her husband makes. She is even described as having “infinite patience” whenever she is conversing with Willy (Miller 99). Willy's two sons, Biff and Happy, are also affected by his flaw. Happy, when in the company of two ladies, claims that Willy is not even his father, and “just a guy” (Miller 91). Later in the play, Biff decides that he does not want to be in his father's life anymore. Biff's problems are simply too much for Willy to handle with his current state of being, even though Willy needs Biff in his life. After both internal and external conflict, Biff reveals to Willy that Willy had been lied to for a number of years, and that the life he lives is essentially a lie (Miller 104).
He seems to believe that the best way to be the “man” in the relationship is to be the dominant one and to put her down all the time. “I won’t have you mending stockings in the house! Now throw them out!” Willy feels guilty about Linda mending stockings when he bought the woman he’s having an affair with a new pair. He transfers this guilt into being horrible to her, which isn’t very fair. He seems to believe that this is a way to assert his masculinity, and it could possibly resonate from the way that his father treated women before he left. This is similar to Othello; when Othello believes that Desdemona is having an affair he slaps her in front of everyone, thinking that it is a way to assert his masculinity to the public. Willy also refers to Linda as “kid” a lot, which could be a playful nickname but it also could be a way of him putting her down and making her seem immature. It is an excuse to dismiss her. It also suggests that he thinks he is more mature than Linda, whereas the audience know this not to be the case as Willy is losing it a little and can act incredibly childishly. In treating Linda like this, it also drives Willy and Biff further apart than ever. He doesn’t approve of the way Linda is treated, especially since he knows how much she puts up with from her husband. In being so uncertain of his masculinity Willy can be horrible, which makes him unlikeable and drives him apart from
the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a
In the Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, Arthur Miller is saying that women are an important part to keeping the family together. Through the actions of Linda and Elizabeth, miller shows us that women are the rock of their families.
Men may be stronger, but women are emotionally more durable than men. They are the backbone of the household, holding a family together and taking care of everyone, sometimes at the expense of their own wellbeing. This is seen in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman, in the character of Linda. Miller shows the role of women and wives play during this time in America, and shows Linda as the mother and wife, very rarely directly showing her as her own person.
Linda Loman, the wife of Willy Loman and basis her life of the single to always protect Willy and be there for him at all times. Willy is rude, short tempered and an often lash out at Linda even when what he is saying is irrational. Linda unfortunately, loves Willy so much that she is literally blinded by love, to a point where she is oblivious of the fact that he has a mistress, his poor financial means and that he lost his job. Her lack of knowledge is one the reason why continuously supports Willy through thick and thin. Fear is another reason that drives Linda to act the way she does. Willy’s aggressive behavior and suicidal attempts have scarred Linda to a so she baby’s him. Linda even kicked out her son’s Biff and Happy because they stood up to him and called him out when he was out of line which upset and frustrated Willy. Biff and Happy had the tendency to upset Willy and Linda could not let that happen. Linda Loman is willing to be yelled at, stepped out and cheated on just so she and Willy can continue being together. She
Another person that suffered from Willy’s obsession with the American Dream was Linda, Willy’s wife. To illustrate, “Linda: He’s dying Biff… that saved him,” (Miller 41). At this point, Linda is trying to explain to her sons that Willy has been trying to commit suicide. She recounts the details on Willy’s car accidents and she talked to a woman who said Willy wasn’t going fast, didn’t skid, and then deliberately smashed into the railing on the side of the road. Linda is obviously disgusted with her son's actions and distraught by Willy’s intentions therefore, she is sharing what is happening with Willy in hope that they will treat Willy with more appreciation. Also, Biff is vigilant when Linda talks about the woman and it throws her off guard.
Willy is a man who does not know how to make the most of what he has. He sets himself up for...
Relations between fathers and the younger generation have been and continue to be an important theme for various literary genres (King Lear, Shakespeare; Fathers and Sons, Turgenev). For many famous writers the significance of fathers’ influence on their children forms a subject of particular interest. . In the play, Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller shows in a very striking manner that the father's influence can be either positive or fatal. The dispiriting story of the three generations of the Lomans family contrasts with the happy account of the life of their neighbors, Charley and his son Bernard.
Linda will go to any lengths to protect her husband and even tries to protect him when it comes to how their boys see Willy. It seems like she still
In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, women play a crucial role in Willy’s life and in the lives of the other characters. While the roles themselves have not changed since the play was written, society’s opinion of these roles has changed greatly. When it was written, Miller’s representation of Linda was seen as a portrait of the ideal American wife. She was a nurturing wife and mother, loyal to her family, and almost overly supportive of her pitiful husband Willy. The other women in the play, however, were seen as “working women,” or women who care about money as opposed to emotional support.
At the beginning of the play it is evident that he cannot determine the realities of life, and so he repeatedly contradicts himself to establish that his conclusion is correct and opinion accepted. These numerous contradictions demonstrate that Willy is perturbed of the possibility that negative judgements may come from others. Willy strongly believes that “personality always wins” and tells his sons that they should “be liked and (they) will never want”. In one of Willy’s flashbacks he recalls the time when his sons and him were outside cleaning their Chevy. Willy informs Biff and Happy the success of his business trips and how everyone residing in Boston adores him. He mentions that due to the admiration of people he does not even have to wait in lines. He ultimately teaches his sons that being liked by others is the way to fulfilling one’s life and removing your worries. These ideals, that one does not need to work for success, demonstrate Willy’s deluded belief of achieving a prosperous life from the admiration and acceptance of others. This ultimately proves to be a false ideology during his funeral, when an insufficient amount of people arrive. Willy constantly attempts to obtain other’s acceptance through his false tales that depict him as a strong, successful man. In the past, he attempts to lie to his wife, Linda, about the amount of wealth he has attained during his
The play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller, is about an average salesman living in Brooklyn, New York in the 1940’s named Willy Loman. Willy firmly believes in the American dream and is living his life aspiring to gain the wealth and materials associated with those of higher status in society. This American dream tears apart his family and the end result is his own demise. Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet, has a plot similar to Death of a Salesman in that it is about salesmen and it shows the effects of capitalism on people and society. A difference between the two, however, is that Glengarry Glen Ross includes a group of salesmen working a firm who are trying to win a sales contest in which the first prize is a Cadillac, the second price is a set of steak knives, and the remaining salesmen will be fired. The main difference in the plays is that Death of a Salesman is decidedly a modern play and Glengarry Glen Ross is a postmodern response to Death of a Salesman.
In the play Death of a Salesman, Willy who is the father figure in this play to his son Biff , and a husband to his wife linda. Willy is the type of man who needs to be constantly reminded that he is a good person, an attractive person, a person that people like. "I'm fat. I'm very foolish to look at, linda."says Willy (Miller 24). Willy's wife Linda is Willy's rock. He depend on her for support and she is happy to enable him in his choices whether they be good or bad."How can i mention it to him? Everyday i go down and take the little rubber pipe. But, when he comes home i put it back where it was." says Linda (Miller 43). Biff, who is Linda and Willy's first born has so much pressure on him. His father wishes that he would fallow in his footsteps as a salesman, but Biff sees the struggle of his dad and doesn't want to have to go through that. Willy and his son have a very bad relationship because of an affair that willy had with a college. "You picked me?"says willy "I did i've been sitting at the desk watching all the salesman go by, day in day out. But you've got such a sense of humor, and we we do have such a good time together." says willys mistress (Miller 25).